Dighton museum re-opening draws sizeable crowd

DIGHTON — The two-story colonial at 1217 Williams Street has a smoke alarm and an electrified exit sign just inside its front door.

But don’t let those modern flourishes fool you: The house built in 1770 by a Revolutionary War colonel offers the public a mini-journey through the past, although one not adhering strictly to chronology.

Saturday marked the grand re-opening of what’s known as the Winslow-Davis Museum, named for colonial-era Minuteman Colonel Job Winslow and Dighton residents Samuel and Elizabeth Davis who later bought the house in 1823.

It was a celebration of sorts among townies visiting and touring the building which had been closed since 2012.

“I’m so happy to see someone paying attention to Dighton,” Lorraine Mendes said.

Mendes, 83, said she’s always been conscious of the importance of keeping history alive.

As a middle-aged woman she said she wrote a book-form autobiographical account of her and her family’s life called “The Family on Elm Street,” a copy of which is available at the town library.

Her daughter Mary Lawler, 52, also gave thumbs up to what the Dighton Historical Society, which bought the house in 1968, has done in fixing up the first floor and its five rooms.

“I think it’s beautiful,” Lawler said.

By mid-afternoon at least 150 people had signed a guest book on a table in what used to be called a “keeping room,” said Chris Pacheco, president of the historical society, which spent $99,000 of a $125,000 Community Preservation state grant to restore, paint and repair the place.

The second floor with its three rooms, although off limits to the general public, serves an important role, said historical society member JoAnn Racine.

Racine said research materials, including old Taunton Daily Gazette newspapers and other documents, one of which she said is written on birch bark, are stored upstairs and can be viewed upon special request.

The upstairs rooms, she said, until fairly recently had been rented out for years as an apartment: “It helped defray the cost,” Racine said.

Beginning July 11 the museum will be open to the public every Tuesday 9 a.m. to noon. Anyone interested in perusing the history books and other documents can call for an appointment, she said.

Racine said the museum offers a close-up view of a potpourri of donated historical artifacts from various eras.

These include a Victorian organ; large dolls wrapped in oil cloth; a tooth-pulling device; women’s hats; American Indian artifacts; a large wooden baby cradle; and what had been a professional embroidery stitching sampler.

There’s also a wool rug in the front parlor that Racine says took the late Elaine Varley 10 years to make.

Varley, she said, was a local historian and founding member of the town’s historical society who worked tirelessly on behalf of the group.

One of the more subtle and sophisticated features in terms of visibility, Varley said, is feather-edge paneling now attached to the walls of the front hallway that originally was part of another Somerset Avenue house.

The original owner of that house, a Mr. Walker, might have been involved in the ship-building industry — which Racine said might explain the initials DW carved above the images of two large sailing vessels.

Pacheco said it’s possible Job Winslow might have left his house to a son or daughter in the years before 1793, when a deed recorded the sale of the building to Mr. and Mrs. Davis.

Both Pacheco and Racine said it’s likely Job Winslow was a small farmer.

“It’s a modest house,” Pacheco said. “I don’t think they were a family of any real means. He was probably just an average person in town.”

At some point, she said, an addition was made downstairs at the rear of the house. Doing so, Pacheco said, would have provided a dedicated cooking room and alleviated the mixed-use activity in the keeping room.

A former single-room schoolhouse in the backyard behind the main house is being used for storage.

“We moved it here years ago. It used to be behind a cemetery — it was just kind of rotting,” Racine said, adding that the building has since then been painted and its windows re-glazed.

She surmised there someday might be a grant opportunity to restore the old schoolhouse so it can used for meetings.

Racine said the Winslow-Davis Museum has a security alarm system and is equipped with a mini-ductless system providing heat, air conditioning and a humidifier.